The Grudge reboot takes an Evil Dead approach with an R rating
The Grudge directed by Nicolas Pesce and produced by Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures, received an R rating. Is anyone really surprised?
The Grudge reboot is coming to theaters on Jan. 3, 2020. With the release right around the corner, Exhibitor Relations Company is reporting that the Sam Raimi produced film has been given an R rating.
Honestly, knowing that Ghost House Pictures is behind this production and Raimi and his partner, Rob Tapert are well-known for the Evil Dead franchise is this really surprising news? Sure, the first reboot starring Sarah Michelle Gellar in 2004 was rated PG-13 but this time the approach to the story is different.
In a “first look” piece with Entertainment Weekly last month, director Nicolas Pesce was very candid about his vision for the film. He looks at The Grudge as a non-traditional creepy haunted house tale preferring instead to go beyond the façade of the location.
What makes his version of the franchise different is that the curse (grudge) “can happen anywhere, behind any door, to anyone. It’s unique to this story and philosophically terrifying.” So, this go around is going to be more graphic in terms of what is shown on screen. There will be “disturbing violence, bloody images, terror and some language,” hence the new rating.
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We can’t help but tie The Grudge to the talk of the future Evil Dead production that is in the planning stages at this moment in time. Over the summer when Sam Raimi was promoting Crawl, he teased that “action on the new Evil Dead movie could be coming in six months.”
Then in our exclusive interview with Bruce Campbell, the star of the original franchise reiterated his partner’s sentiments and went a little deeper with the details.
"“The Evil Dead premise is there are no superheroes. It’s just people fighting demons and that’s it. So, that can translate to men, women, children, old, young, people of color, it doesn’t matter.”"
Campbell will be joining Raimi and Tapert as a producer on the latest venture. Their take on the new Evil Dead is that it can happen to anyone. This seems to be the way that Pesce is looking at The Grudge. That is why the bloody images and disturbing violence is just business as usual when Sam Raimi is behind a horror film.
Next. The Grudge and the 10 best foreign horror movie remakes. dark
Since a trailer and footage from The Grudge was shown at New York Comic Con, an official promo should be forthcoming. Stay tuned…
Are you looking forward to The Grudge? Let us know in the comments.